"Well, I wasn't here when we started this." That was a week ago. What should have happened?

Clearly, the answer is make-up work. But it didn't happen. Unfortunately, this isn't uncommon--just very frustrating for me.

I maintain a detailed class website with a daily agenda and all class materials. I keep a weekly agenda on the board in the classroom. I entered the original assignment in the grade book. There was no reason for this student, or any student, to be behind, absent or not.

I don't have the answer to the problem. I only know that sometimes I must deal with it. I helped the student find the assignment, explained what I was looking for. And then I got on my high horse just a little--how about you take care of what you missed next time? Getting behind hurts your learning.

End of story.

A Hard Discussion

Student Communication: A Hard Discussion

Revising for Concise Explanation

Revising for Concise Explanation

Unit 1: Persuasive Writing
Lesson 13 of 22

Objective: Students will be able to make concise connections between claim, evidence, and details by revising teacher-annotated essays.

I ask students to take out their third essays and review the types of feedback they received. After they look over the work, I review common comments: dots, of course, indicate grammatical errors (as they have in the past), and "OO claim" means connect to claim (a throwback on a hand-talk sign we use in discussion at Dansville, OO represents two connecting circles). While students were able to connect details to evidence via simple connecting words, they either forgot or didn't know how to connect the paragraph back to the claim at the end. I see puzzled faces, so I offer an example: if the claim is schools should not offer rewards for proficient test scores on the ACT and the body paragraph focuses on a lack of rewards in the real work place, one might connect the two by saying, "Rewarding test scores will only set students up for disappointment when they enter the real world and don't receive incentives."

Explanation of common errors done, I ask students to revise as marked on their rough drafts and add on an appositive, preposition at the start of a sentence, and present participle. Circling back to old grammatical tricks will ensure more thorough learning.

We move to the computer lab so students can polish, and I walk around to be sure students are on task and to answer questions about their revision goals. Some students request help connecting paragraph back to the claim--we discuss why the evidence was included in the essay in the first place to find the answers. By the end of the hour, students are much more confident with making evidence to claim connections.